ISBN 9790300761879. 190 x 272 mm inches.

Jocelyn Hagen is one of the best-loved choral composers working in the USA today. Her Mother's Song uses a touching translation by Willis Barnstone of an anonymous Japanese text in which the health and well-being of a mother's child is sought. Commissioned by VOCES8 for their LIVE From London festival in 2020 and scored for unaccompanied SSAATTBB choir, this three-minute piece contains wonderfully rich and sonorous harmonies. Suitable for performance at Christmas/ Holidays or at any time for the year.

ISBN 9790577021201. 190 x 272 mm inches.

Now winter nights by British composer and baritone Roderick Williams uses an evocative poem by Thomas Campion as its text, helping him to pinpoint the excitement of Christmas he felt as a child, and still holds on to. Written for SSAATTBB unaccompanied choir, Now winter nights is suitable for choirs wanting a Christmas/Holiday treat but which requires a medium to higher level of skill. Commissioned by VOCES8 for their LIVE From London festival in 2020.

ISBN 9790577021195. 190 x 272 mm inches.

British composer Ken Burton was drawn to the poetry of 18th-century slave and writer Phyllis Wheatley for his piece Descend to Earth. The dual troubles of pandemic and racial oppression in 2020 resonate with Wheatley's concise poem, the start of which recalls the Christmas/Holiday season. Written for SSAATTBB unaccompanied choir plus baritone solo, Descend to Earth will have a place in many programs with varied themes. It was commissioned by VOCES8 for their LIVE From London festival in 2020 and premiered by them with baritone Roderick Williams.

Latin.

Andrej Makor, currently a master student of composition at the Conservatorio Cesare Pollini in Padua, has already won numerous international composition prizes. The highly respected works by the artist born in Slovenia in 1987 are performed by renowned choirs, ensembles and soloists at prestigious competitions and festivals, among others. His composition O Emmanuel for which he was awarded the 2nd prize of the International Composition Competition 'Musica Sacra Nova' 2016 is based on the original Gregorian chant of the last of a total of seven so-called O antiphons which are sung at the seven Advent days with the Magnificat at Vespers in anticipation of Christmas Eve. Makor's score which follows the traditional motet form but is structured in a more modern form begins with the original Gregorian chorale. Its melody runs through various voice groupings in the course of the piece. In the concluding 'Domine Deus noster' whose pressing character becomes obvious in the constantly recurring triplet figurations of the middle parts, the work imbued with the idea of eternity reaches its extremely impressive climax.